Cambria’s general manager terminated

April 30, 2011

Tammy Rudock

In the aftermath of the controversial firing of Cambria’s fire chief, the board terminated General Manager Tammy Rudock’s employment on Friday. [KSBY]

On Thursday, almost 300 people arrived at a Cambria Community Services District Board meeting to show support for the rehiring of former Fire Chief Mark Miller and the firing of Rudock. She refused to say why she fired the chief claiming it was a confidential issue.

Richard Stacy, a longtime CSD employee, told KSBY Miller was fired after he refused to take responsibility for a mistake management made telling lot owners about weed abatement.

Several critics complained that Rudock’s management style was one of intimidation.

In the closed session meeting on Friday, the board selected district Utilities Manager Jerry Gruber to serve as interim general manager.

Rudock’s salary – with pay and benefits at more than $231,000 per year – has also been an issue with some of her critics.

31 Comments

A question for any Cambrians who may be reading this comments section.

The following was quoted in another article.
:: :: ::

“However, Richard Stacy, a longtime CSD employee, spoke to KSBY News at length today, and he says it’s because Rudock wanted Miller to take responsibility for a mistake management made telling lot owners about weed abatement.
“He also said Miller was only one of several employees fired or forced to retire because they refused to take responsibility for mistakes Rudock made.”
:: :: ::

What’s the deal with the “weed abatement”?

It appears that Rudock’s firing of Miller, especially the way she did it, was almost in a state of panic. panicked. She doesn’t appear to have laid any groundwork for the move against Miller, and she put herself and her future at some risk by doing it.

Is there anything about the weed abatement issue that would have triggered such a ham-fisted response by Rudock?

From the quote, it sounds like she did not want people to know she had notified residents about the weed abatement? Why would this cause her such consternation that she’d fire someone because they wouldn’t take the blame for her?

Does she have some secret arrangement with companies that do weed abatement?

Sure, firing Miller could have been a knee-jerk retalitory response, but why would the blame for notifying residents about weed abatement trigger such an over-the-top reaction?

Mr Gruber is the interim General Manager “pending formalization of a contract.” Since Mr. Gruber was hired as part of succession planning, I’m assuming the Board doesn’t plan to do a search for a GM, but simply promote him into the position. To my fellow Cambrians: Right now is the time to be keeping a close eye on the Board, since they will be crafting the new GM’s contract – which will have to be approved by the Board at a public meeting. Let’s make sure this contract is fair and reasonable. And then enjoy the honeymoon period of our new GM.

It is hard to change the system for the better against the wealthy, they have too much power to control media, business, election, regulations, and law.
All we can do is keep wiping the mud they throw on the wall.

The last one was about sexual harassment charges against Gruber when he worked for Big Bear Lake City. While the opening of the article says “there is no discrimination,” the reality is that Gruber resigned after he had been put on administrative leave, and the suit was dropped.

Thank you, Mary. Yes, I can web search with the best of them. But since you had seemingly already done so, something more like your answer to my question is useful for readers of the site.
I’d also like to point out that accusations are not any proof of guilt. Neither is resignation after administrative leave. Sometimes the best thing someone can do is to cut your losses – even if you are not at fault.